The Real Business of Ancient Maya Economies

From Farmers’ Fields to Rulers’ Realms

Marilyn A. Masson, David A. Freidel, Arthur A. Demarest

A timely synthesis of the latest research and perspectives on ancient Maya economics, this volume illuminates the sophistication and intricacy of economic systems in the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic periods.

Contributors from a wide range of disciplines move beyond paradigms of elite control and centralized exchange to focus on individual agency, highlighting production and exchange that took place at all levels of society. Case studies draw on new archaeological evidence from rural households and urban marketplaces to reconstruct the trade networks for tools, ceramics, obsidian, salt, and agricultural goods throughout the empire. They also describe the ways household production integrated with community, regional, and interregional markets.

Redirecting the field of ancient Maya economic studies away from simplistic characterizations of the past by fully representing the range of current views on the subject, this volume delves deeply into multiple facets of a complex, interdependent material world.

Contributors: Anthony P. Andrews | Chloé Andrieu | Beatriz Balcárcel | Adolfo Iván Batún | George Bey | Ronald L. Bishop | Geoffrey E. Braswell | Marcello Canuto | Bernadette Cap | Arlen F. Chase | Diane Z. Chase | Rubén Chuc Aguilar | Maia Dedrick | Pedro Delgado Kú, | Arthur A. Demarest | Keith Eppich | Bárbara Escamilla Ojeda | Scott L. Fedick | Luis Flores Cobá | Lynda Florey Folan | William J. Folan | David A. Freidel | Tomás Gallareta Negrón | Charles Golden | Stanley P. Guenter | Joel D. Gunn | Richard D. Hansen | Timothy S. Hare | Enrique Hernández | Rachel A. Horowitz | Scott R. Hutson | Takeshi Inomata | Eleanor M. King | Marilyn A. Masson | Patricia A. McAnany | Carlos Morales-Aguilar | Carlos Peraza Lope | Dorie Reents-Budet | Prudence M. Rice | William Ringle | Fernando Robles Castellanos | Alejandra Roche Recinos| Bradley W. Russell | Andrew Scherer | Whittaker Schroder | Payson Sheets | Edgar Suyuc | Alexandre Tokovinine | Paola Torres | Daniela Triadan | Kenichiro Tsukamoto | Clive Vella | Bart Victor | Beniamino Volta | Brent K. S. Woodfill | Andrew R. Wyatt | Norman Yoffee

A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Real Business of Ancient Maya Economies
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• List of Abbreviations
• PART I. THEORETICAL APPROACHES
• PART II. HOUSEHOLD AND COMMUNITY ECONOMIES AND RESOURCES
• PART III. AGRICULTURE, CLIMATE, LAND
• PART IV. POLITICAL ELITES, WEALTHY PERSONS, AND ECONOMIC ADMINISTRATION
• PART V. ECONOMIC EXCHANGE SPHERES: ROUTES, FACILITIES, AND SYMBOLIC CONTEXTS
• Appendix: Indigenous Food Plants of the Maya Lowlands
• Bibliography
• List of Contributors
• Index